Allstate Corp Invests $4.29 Million in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 114,353 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $4,292,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DnB Asset Management AS increased its position in Comcast by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 760,432 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $28,539,000 after buying an additional 20,312 shares during the last quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $233,000. denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $709,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 203,695 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after purchasing an additional 5,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in Comcast by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,367,435 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $88,850,000 after purchasing an additional 287,321 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CMCSA shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Scotiabank downgraded Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.82, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

Comcast Company Profile

Comcast Corporation operates as a media and technology company worldwide. It operates through Residential Connectivity & Platforms, Business Services Connectivity, Media, Studios, and Theme Parks segments. The Residential Connectivity & Platforms segment provides residential broadband and wireless connectivity services, residential and business video services, sky-branded entertainment television networks, and advertising.